Unintended, unexpected consequences are a fact of life. But seldom do they happen in front of one of the largest audiences in the world, on one of the most hotly anticipated nights of the year.
At the Oscars, it’s usually the clothing designers who get all the press. But we only see their work fleetingly — it can be quite memorable , but you usually only get a glimpse on the red carpet and for a few minutes during a presentation.
The set designer’s work is in view all night long , and this year, the set design stole some scenes, at least online.
When David Korins sat down to design the Oscars set, he had a few ideas in mind.
The designer, who also designed the set for hit musical Hamilton , wanted to make a stage that had some solid principles behind it, telling the Los Angeles Times that he sees “inclusion and humanity, femininity and beauty” in the design. “The world is filled with hard lines and straight lines and us-and-thems,” he said, “and I really wanted people to feel like this was an asymmetrical, warm, undulating art installation that was installed in this theater.”
The reaction online was not quite was he was going for.
Instead of “inclusion and humanity,” the prevailing opinion from viewers at home was that, somehow, President Trump’s hair had taken over the stage.
If you thought you were the only one, no, you were far from alone.
People were heavily confused, thinking they were seeing the Donald’s trademark coif in the “warm, undulating art installation.”
It’s not to say that people didn’t _like_ David’s set design, just that they couldn’t unsee the resemblance once they’d made the connection.
You have to admit, the resemblance is incredible, and that the Los Angeles Times called the design “a shimmering, swirling of sparkling blues and gold dotted with 1,250 Swarovski crystal strands,” it’s not exactly unflattering for the Oval Office’s occupant.
It’s uncanny enough that a few folks online predictably put their Photoshop skills to work.
Like @nightlightguy, who shopped Trump’s straw-like helmet onto the shining golden waves of the Oscar stage just to bring the comparison to life.
Of course, someone else had to go the other way with it, too.
With the Trump mug shopped underneath the set by @Golden_TV, a generous person might say POTUS gets a distinctly Scandinavian, Thor-like flow, while someone else might say it channels Kim Basinger in L.A. Confidential , which at least would be fitting for the occasion.
Mind you, some other folks saw less presidential inspiration in the set design.
But again, that’s a legendary ‘do arching over the ceremonies below. Everybody, look how good it looks!
For his part, David didn’t particularly object to people making those inevitable connections.
“I don’t see that, but I think that people see in artistic endeavors all sorts of things,” he said. “You look at paintings and sculpture and architecture and people see what they want to see.”
When the big night came, David happily tweeted his view of the evening’s festivities and explained how some of his design choices worked.
And the hairstyle-in-chief was not mentioned. Probably best to just stick with the theme of inclusion, community, and hope with the Twitter crowd!
